To the Editor:
I would like to share this prayer by the late Father Karl Rahner, S.J., in honor of all priests and deacons celebrating ordination jubilees this year:
THE PRIEST
The priest is not an angel
Sent from heaven
He is a man
Chosen from among men,
A member of the Church,
A Christian.
Remaining man and Christian,
He begins to speak of you
The Word of God.
The word is not his own.
No, he comes to you
Because God has told him
To proclaim God’s Word.
Perhaps he has not entirely
Understood it himself.
Perhaps he adulterates it.
But he believes,
And despite his fear
He knows he must communicate
God’s Word to you.
For must not some of us
Say something about God,
About eternal life;
About the majesty of grace
in our sanctified being?
Must not some one of us
Speak of sin,
The judgement and mercy of God?
So, my dear friends,
Pray for him,
Carry him,
So that he might be able
To sustain others by bringing to them
The mystery of God’s love
Revealed in Jesus Christ.
— Karl Rahner S.J.
Father Stephen Page
St. Mary Parish, Fairfield
